The Extremism Roundup

Focused on Evidence Instead of Narratives
A weekly compilation of the most important developments in the struggle against radical ideologies

A Word From the CEO

Dear Reader,

A volatile September exposed America’s struggle with violent extremism, as federal courts swiftly addressed a wave of ideologically charged attacks. A sniper plot targeting President Trump in Florida, Hamas-inspired firebombings at UC Berkeley and a federal courthouse in Oakland, and an ISIS-driven plan for a knife attack in Queens led to lengthy prison sentences.

CSIS reports left-wing attacks now surpass right-wing ones, a historic shift. President Trump’s deployment of troops to Portland and ICE facilities against Antifa sparked Democratic backlash, amid a reported 1,000 percent surge in attacks on immigration officers. As DHS warns of hybrid cyber and disinformation threats, these cases underscore the urgent need to counter foreign and domestic forces exploiting America’s fault lines.

Sincerely,

RIchard Green

CEO, Co-Founder

Clarionproject.org

Militant-Right and Militant-Left Extremism

Police arresting Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect in the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Florida - screenshot from Martin County Sheriff’s Office video via Getty Images

Jury Convicts Would-Be Trump Assassin

Ryan Wesley Routh, 59, of Hawaii, was convicted by a federal jury for attempting to assassinate President Donald J. Trump, then a major presidential candidate, in a planned sniper attack at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. He was charged with attempted assassination, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
On September 15, 2024, U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Robert Fercano spotted Routh aiming an AK-style rifle at him from a sniper’s hide near the golf course, prompting Fercano to open fire; Routh fled, leaving behind a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope, additional ammunition, steel armor plates, and a camera aimed at the sixth hole green.
Authorities found Routh’s car containing multiple mobile phones, a list of flights out of the country for that day, and directions to Miami International Airport. Cell records showed Routh’s phone accessed towers near Trump International and Mar-a-Lago from August 18 to September 15, 2024. A witness provided a box Routh left in April containing a handwritten letter confessing to the assassination attempt. Read More

Man Inspired by Hamas Sentenced for Firebomb Attack

Casey Robert Goonan was sentenced to 235 months (over 19 years) in prison, 15 years of supervised release, $94,267.51 in restitution, and a $100 special assessment after pleading guilty in January to maliciously damaging property affecting interstate commerce by fire or explosive. The court labeled him a "domestic terrorist" for actions intended to promote federal terrorism crimes.
On June 1, 2024, Goonan placed a bag of Molotov cocktails under a University of California Police Department vehicle, igniting it and causing the vehicle to catch fire. He also set additional fires on the UC Berkeley campus on June 13 and June 16, 2024.
On June 11, 2024, Goonan threw rocks at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse to break a window for lobbing Molotov cocktails, but was disrupted by officers.
Goonan admitted his attacks were inspired by Hamas's October 7, 2023, assault on Israel, calling for similar property attacks on Bay Area college campuses in support of Palestine, with the intent to intimidate and coerce U.S. and California governments in retaliation for their policies. Read More

Trump Orders Troops to Portland

On September 27, 2025, President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of U.S. military troops to Portland, Ore., and federal immigration facilities, authorizing "full force, if necessary," to counter what he described as "domestic terrorists" including Antifa, amid escalating tensions over immigration enforcement.
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, both Democrats, denounced the move as unnecessary, noting a 51 percent drop in homicides in early 2025 and no evidence of insurrection or national security threats, warning it could inflame protests.
The directive aligns with Trump's recent designation of Antifa as a domestic terrorist group following protests against ICE raids, echoing 2020 deployments during George Floyd unrest that reportedly heightened conflicts. Read More

Islamist Extremism

Machine gun printed on 3D printer - Shutterstock

Man Arrested and Charged for Attempting to Aid Al-Qaida

Andrew Scott Hastings, a 25-year-old from Tulsa, Okla., was arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and illegal possession or transfer of a machine gun, following his appearance before a federal judge.
In June 2024, the FBI identified Hastings on a social media platform discussing violent acts against U.S. civilians to support global jihad, offering over 500 pages of notes and Army manuals on tactics and weapon manufacturing, and advising on evading law enforcement.
Hastings communicated with an undercover FBI agent posing as an al-Qaida contact, discussing 3-D printed firearms, machinegun conversion devices ("switches"), and drones, and provided a link to a website selling these items.
Surveillance footage captured Hastings shipping over 100 3-D printed switches, two handgun lower receivers, a handgun slide, and various parts intended for al-Qaida’s use in terrorist attacks; he was a U.S. Army National Guard member with a security clearance until his voluntary discharge on June 6, 2025. Read More

Man Sentenced for Attempting to Aid ISIS

Awais Chudhary, a 25-year-old from Queens, N.Y., was sentenced to nine years in prison and 15 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization, for planning a knife attack on civilians.
In 2019, Chudhary pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, planned a knife or bomb attack targeting pedestrian bridges over the Grand Central Parkway and the Flushing Bay Promenade, conducted reconnaissance, and recorded videos of the sites.
Chudhary ordered a tactical knife, mask, gloves, and recording equipment online, sought advice from supposed ISIS supporters on avoiding detection, referenced ISIS propaganda for attack methods, and assisted in translating ISIS propaganda into English to recruit English-speaking supporters.
Chudhary was arrested while attempting to retrieve his ordered items from an online retailer’s locker in Queens, preventing the attack, with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force credited for stopping the plot. Read More

Senator Warns US education secretary About CAIR’s Influence in Schools

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon about what he said are efforts by the Council of American-Islamic Relations “to influence K-12 schools.”
The letter comes after CAIR announced plans to partner with schools in Pennsylvania and Delaware to help make them “more inclusive.”
“The U.S. Department of Education must ensure that CAIR is not given an opportunity to push its radical, pro-terrorist, anti-Israel ideology on American schoolchildren,” the senator wrote. Read More

Hate Crime

The outside of the Zeta Beta Tau house at Syracuse University - The NewsHouse Syracuse Campus News

Two Syracuse Students Charged With Hate Crime Against Jewish Fraternity

Two 18-year-old Syracuse University students were arrested and charged with burglary as a hate crime and criminal nuisance for allegedly throwing a bag of pork into the Zeta Beta Tau Jewish fraternity house during a Rosh Hashanah dinner.
Around 5:45 p.m., one student entered the fraternity house to throw the pork, while the other drove the getaway vehicle. Police linked the act to the Jewish observance, and both suspects were apprehended shortly after.
Syracuse University Chief Student Experience Officer Allen Groves called the incident “abhorrent” and contrary to the institution’s values, stating it would not be tolerated.
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick described the act as a serious crime against Jewish students, not a prank, and affirmed the case is being handled with appropriate gravity, though no specific motive was disclosed by authorities. Read More

Oklahoma City Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Hate Crime

Braden Birdsong, 28, of Oklahoma City, Okla., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Bernard M. Jones to a federal hate crime violation for racially motivated assault on a Black man, facing a maximum of 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release.
On August 25, 2023, Birdsong attacked D.G., a Black employee cleaning a restaurant parking lot, using racial slurs and anti-Black rhetoric while punching him multiple times in the head, causing bodily injury.
Birdsong admitted in court that he assaulted D.G. specifically because of his race and color. Read More

School Threats

New Bern High School in North Carolina - New Bern High School website

North Carolina Student Charged for Online Threats

Sean Kinsey, an 18-year-old student at New Bern High School in North Carolina, was arrested by the Craven County Sheriff’s Office and charged with felony communicating threats of mass violence on educational property, specifically for using social media to post the threat while posing as another person.
Kinsey's bond was set at $25,000, with a court appearance scheduled for Monday at 9 a.m. Read More

Foreign Influence Operations

Examples of electronic warfare technology for military aircraft on display at an aviation show - Sergey Kohl via Shutterstock

Former Defense Contractor Sentenced for Attempted Espionage

John Murray Rowe Jr., a 67-year-old former defense contractor from Lead, S.D., was sentenced to 126 months (over 10 years) in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $25,000 fine after pleading guilty in April 2022 to attempted delivery of national defense information to a foreign government and three counts of willful communication of classified information.
Rowe worked nearly 40 years as a test engineer for defense contractors, holding security clearances up to TOP SECRET//SCI, and specialized in U.S. Air Force electronic warfare technology for military fighter jet systems.
From March to December 2020, Rowe communicated with an undercover FBI agent he believed was a Russian intelligence officer, disclosing classified details via over 300 emails and in-person meetings, expressing eagerness to assist Russia, and continuing unauthorized disclosures even during pretrial detention. Read More

Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Act as Illegal Agent of the Chinese Government

Yuanjun Tang, a 68-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen and Flushing, Queens resident, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Tang has a history as a former PRC dissident who received U.S. political asylum in 2002 after imprisonment for opposing the Chinese Communist Party.
From at least 2018 to June 2023, Tang gathered intelligence and performed tasks for the PRC's Ministry of State Security (MSS), including surveilling U.S.-based Chinese democracy activists, providing contact information for immigration lawyers, and infiltrating dissident group chats on encrypted apps. He received payments, traveled to Macau and mainland China for MSS meetings and polygraphs, and transmitted information via electronic devices.
This case highlights MSS-directed espionage targeting Chinese dissidents in the U.S., prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Yumi Chong and Trial Attorney Sean O’Dowd, with investigation led by the FBI New York Field Office.
Tang faces a maximum of five years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for January 29, 2026. Read More

State-Level Foreign Influence Laws Begin Taking Effect

Nebraska, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have recently enacted legislation requiring additional disclosures for lobbying efforts on behalf of foreign companies and organizations—activities historically regulated by the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
This state-level disclosure requirements are, in general, stricter than federal requirements.
These laws reflect a growing trend among states to regulate foreign influence more aggressively. Read More

QUOTABLE
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”

-- Harry Truman

NOTE TO OUR READERS: We have pulled out the salient points of the articles in this newsletter to keep you informed and focused on the most relevant, important and timely news in national security and extremism. While our national security experts stand behind the summary bullets and deem them trustworthy, Clarion Project does not endorse all the views expressed in the articles linked.

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